So what?

You have to keep up to date, of course. If you rest, you rust. Who does not go with the time, must go with time. Stagnation is regression. Got it? So, hurry up.
With thoughts like that it's easy to get on the trip not to miss anything: "Everybody does it now, beware, we have to catch up, otherwise we won’t last long, very important.” Who wants to miss the Philosopher's Stone?

Let’s take Design Thinking: it seems almost socially unacceptable not to participate. Everyone hopes for genius ex method, and then it's even cool and fun. I do think this works well, but where is the revolution? Get to know the customers and their needs, especially their emotions? Identify the core problem? Co-creatively look for solutions? Make prototypes? Test and refine? Yes, of course, but honestly, if you have not yet come up with this idea you will not be helped by a case of methods. To make your own label out of this is certainly good for the suppliers, because of course you can get certified for money as a Design Thinking Coach, and there you go, all consultants think "everyone is doing it now, beware, I have to catch up...".

"Search inside yourself": Of all things Google has to come up with this, and of course you can get certified, and the slogans are hip and trendy: "optimize your life through mindfulness", "weekend seminar, consolidation in the 28 Days Challenge". Dear all, we don't need Google to discover mindfulness, someone did that a thousand years ago.

"Working out Loud": Groups that meet regularly to support each other in their development? Well, that’s a thought! Consisting of a meticulously clocked twelve-point program in just as many weeks, of course only one (!) hour per week. Quote from step 1: "The heart of Working Out Loud is deepening relationships." Hear, hear. Session two reads like a behavioral therapy training "Social competence for beginners". At step three I was tired out. Maybe I'm missing something now, but to be honest, this feeling of threat doesn't really occur to me.

Last but not least: Rolf Dobelli. We really don't need him for any of his topics. He is now taking his business model to the top: after the extensive recycling of what others have developed, he is now even recycling himself. Asked in an interview how he can write a book about the media without even mentioning the social media, he frankly responds that he has written his essay, on which his book is based, ten years ago, and at that time there were no social media, and that he simply didn't feel like dealing with them...Self-confidence isn't everything, I say.

It's recurringly the same: you take three keys of a keyboard and sell it as a new instrument. But it's not so much about pressing a few keys around. It's about first having an idea of what you want to express and then playing a melody. And you have to practice that. Musicians don't constantly rebuild their instruments and give them cool new names. Rather, they try to get a better grasp of what is inside themselves and in the instrument, and how art can be created in the interaction between themselves, the instrument and other musicians.

Of course, you should keep up to date. But before you unnecessarily spend a lot of money on the latest thing, take a look at the basics, pull off the hype, check what's really new about it, and ask yourself why you shouldn't do it yourself and without a certificate.

So what? You can comfortably stick to the essences, which are far from used up and get by with less tinsel.